From the teaching of U.S. Pat. No. 3,358,003 it is known that perfluoropropene oxide can be obtained by reacting the perfluoropropene with an aqueous alkaline solution of hydrogen peroxide which may contain an organic water-miscible solvent.
However, using this process only low yields of perfluoropropene oxide (e.g., 30%) and low degrees of selectivity (e.g., 35%) are obtained under the most favorable conditions. In addition, considerable quantities of fluorinated by-products soluble in the aqueous phase result from secondary reactions of the perfluoropropene and from subsequent decomposition in the aqueous alkaline medium of the perfluoropropene oxide thus formed.
Moreover, in this process it is necessary to maintain the conversion values so that they do not exceed 90% because the selectivity for the formation of perfluoropropene oxide decreases at conversion values between 90% and 100%.